Nikki Natnat

Growing up in a Middle Eastern country as a Filipino, the idea of home has always been complicated for Nikki Natnat. Carried explores the notion of home as transient and informed by multiple places all at once. Drawing heavily from the artist’s nomadic childhood and adolescent life, Carried is a wearable artwork in the form of a backpack constructed using a traditional Filipino hand-weaving technique with balita or newspaper. The zipper of the backpack is placed on the lower portion of the bag’s front as a dedication to Natnat’s mother, its placement representing the incision of the artist’s C-section birth. The artwork is fully activated when worn by the artist as it is only then that the artwork is truly at home. Now a Canadian citizen, Natnat continues to carry her identity everywhere she goes. Through her work, she aims to honour the knowledge that has been passed down from her parents and others before her.

Nikki Natnat is a multimedia artist, performer, and CCIT and Art & Art History student. Her artistic journey started in elementary school in her home in Doha, Qatar. After moving to Canada in 2011, Natnat trained in various media in high school. Over the years, Natnat’s passion for art and community has developed through her experience being a leader, teaching youth art at the City of Mississauga, co-directing her high school’s Visual Arts Council, and organizing an intergenerational event in collaboration with her community’s local senior artists. Currently, Natnat co-directs Artespace, a new company that focuses on providing safe platforms for emerging artists. She actively shares her work and process on Instagram (@maybenixtime), and sticks to Swizz Beatz’s message that: “there is no wrong way of doing art.”